BRANDON, SD (August 29, 2025) – Not long ago, Ryan Timms wasn’t sure if Sprint Car racing was in his future.
The Oklahoma City, OK native exploded onto the scene in 2021 with double-digit Sprint Car wins, some of them happening while he was only 14 years old. Stardom seemed imminent as he began to make the transition to racing nationally with a 410 under the hood. He finished runner-up in only his second World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series appearance just days after his 16th birthday.
But struggles threw the teenager a curveball. Over the next year, the results he was aiming for weren’t arriving. Pressure from social media crept into Timms’ mind. Doubt grew. Maybe racing wasn’t the right path. But before he threw in the towel, his father, Randy, sat him down for a pivotal conversation.
“There was a point where I was so beat down and never running good that I didn’t even have the motivation to race hardly anymore and was kind of reconsidering my career path a little bit,” Timms recalled. “I had pretty much just my dad, who sat down and talked with me and gave me some options, but he was really adamant about me not giving up on the Sprint Car deal. He’s always believed in me and always told me that. He’s watched every race I’ve run and knows I’m capable of being one of the best. So, to have him believe in me was really a big help.”
That talk led to Timms venturing outside the comforts of driving for his family team, linking with Guy Forbrook, Heffner Racing, Roth Motorsports, and Liebig Motorsports for stints in the latter half of 2024. Some strong outings built confidence, and Timms partnered with Shane Liebig’s crew for a pick-and-choose 2025 schedule with a focus on Knoxville Raceway and Huset’s Speedway. Fast forward to present day, and those uncertainties regarding his future in the sport are long gone.
Timms and the Liebig team are on an unforgettable August run. They won both their prelim from eighth and the finale of the sport’s biggest race, the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s, making Timms the event’s second youngest winner. He also became the only driver to have their first World of Outlaws victory be the Knoxville Nationals. Since then, they’ve won a pair of local Huset’s shows and swept an American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) weekend at Montana’s Big Sky Speedway. Next on the agenda is an attempt to take the 2025 Huset’s track championship on Friday, Aug. 29, before battling the World of Outlaws at the Brandon, SD track the next two nights (Aug. 30-31).
Equipped with the perspective of the troubles that made him question himself, the recent success feels all the better for the 18-year-old.
“There’s a lot of things that went into winning the Nationals, but if [my dad] wouldn’t have sat down and talked with me about all that, then there’s no telling what would’ve happened and if I even would’ve won the Nationals,” Timms said. “It’s been a heck of a journey. Even when I was sucking there for a long time, there were a lot of guys that would tell me, ‘Hey, Donny Schatz he’s one of the best, and he struggled for a long time.’ It’s just part of it. You’ve got to get your teeth kicked in for a while, and I got my teeth kicked for a long time. To finally have a win like that made it all feel worth it and made all the struggles pay off and made me really appreciate the wins.”
It’s been a maturing experience for Timms. He moved from his “Sooner State” home to South Dakota near his new team’s Rapid City, SD based shop. Liebig set expectations right away. This wouldn’t be a show up and drive arrangement. Timms would be a part of the team.
“It was definitely a big change moving from Oklahoma,” Timms said. “Back home, I really didn’t have a whole lot to do with my time. I would just kind of work out, and that was about the only productive thing I did at home. Then once Shane and I got hooked up, he laid out a couple things that he expected from me in moving out to Rapid City, and being involved with the team was one of them. I really didn’t have a problem with that because I was so bored at home doing nothing. I started coming to the shop anywhere between eight and nine in the morning, and we’d work until five to six, just depends on how busy we are.”
A three-day Huset’s race weekend is the current focus for Timms and the Liebig team. It begins with the track’s final weekly program of the season on Friday, Aug. 29, when Timms will see if he can snatch the track title from current point leader Kaleb Johnson. Then, Timms will fight for paydays of $15,000 and $25,000 against The Greatest Show on Dirt at the L.G. Everist Huset’s Shootout presented by Ace Ready Mix and Myrl and Roy’s Paving.
No race can match the prestige that Timms has already reached by topping the Knoxville Nationals, but a World of Outlaws score at Huset’s would be plenty meaningful. The shop may be located on the west side in the shadow of Mt. Rushmore, but Huset’s is still within the borders of Liebig Motorsports’ home state of South Dakota. It’s a track that Shane Liebig holds close to heart, and Timms wants to deliver another special win.
“It would be really cool,” Timms said of a potential Huset’s World of Outlaws victory. “Huset’s, Jackson, and Knoxville are Shane’s go-to places and the most important tracks to him, so to win an Outlaw show at Huset’s or Jackson would be really cool and mean a lot. Huset’s is one of the places that we spend so much time at trying to get better and trying to be the fastest car there for when the Outlaws show up. It would mean a lot to do that for Shane and for myself also. I feel like I’ve come pretty close there a couple times with the Outlaws at Huset’s. I’ve always had a lot of speed there just never been able to get it done.”
But no matter the result this weekend, what’s most important for Timms is where he’s made it. From the lows of not knowing if racing, something he’d worked his entire life for, was going to work out. From wondering if he was good enough. And then only a year later to the top of the Sprint Car world in Knoxville Nationals Victory Lane and feeling like the future is limitless.
“I really didn’t think that I was going to be able to find any rides because I hadn’t done anything to prove I should be in someone else’s car,” Timms admitted. “But he (his father) was able to find me two that ended up leading me to Shane. The stars kind of aligned on the whole deal. It was a pretty crazy coincidence the way it all worked out, but I’m really happy that it did.”
Timms and Liebig Motorsports will take on the full cast of World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car stars this weekend at Huset’s Speedway’s L.G. Everist Huset’s Shootout presented by Ace Ready Mix and Myrl & Roy’s Paving (Aug. 30-31). For tickets, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.
ARTICLE: https://worldofoutlaws.com/sprintcars/the-difference-a-year-makes-ryan-timms-journey-to-the-peak-of-sprint-car-racing/
EVENT INFO: https://worldofoutlaws.com/sprintcars/schedule/event-info/?event=4547699
TRACK INFO: https://worldofoutlaws.com/sprintcars/tracks/?track=Huset%27s%2BSpeedway
FAN 101: https://about.worldofoutlaws.com/
